Booster supplemented locomotive



July 23, 1929. H. s. VINCENT BOOSTER SIUPPLIEMENTED LOQOMOTIVE F iled Aug. 7, 1926 s Sheets-Sheet A TTORNE Y 3 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS H. S. VINCENT;

BOOSTER SUPPLEMENTED LoooMo'm/E Filed Aug. 7, 1926 July 23, 1929.

Juli; 23, 1929. s, v c I 1,722,024

BOOSTER SUPPLEMENTED LOCOMOTIVE Filed Aug. '7, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 ATTORNEY 5 Patented July 23, 1929.

warren: STATES HARRY S. VIN CENT, OF RIDGEWOOD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIG-NOR'TO FRANKLIN RAILWAY SUPPLY COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

BOOSTER SUPPLEMENTED LOCOMOTIVE.

Application filed August 7, 1926. Serial No. 127,763.

This invention relates to locomotives which are supplemented or alded 1n starting or at low speeds by what has now become Well' known in the art as a booster motor and it is particularly concerned with the proper drafting of such a locomotive during times when the booster is in operation as well as when it is not.

I-leretofore in many booster supplemented locomotives the exhaust steam from the booster has been wasted. My invention contemplates the economical use of this booster exhaust steam in association with certain improvements in the draftingof the locomotive.

Nearly all modern locomotives, are now equipped with one or more auxiliary steam consuming units such as a feed water heater. Feed water heaters are normally supplied with steam from the exhaust steam lines of the locomotive and my invention is particularly applicable to a locomotive which is equipped with a feed water heater although it is not necessarily limited thereto.

WVith the foregoing in mind the objects of my invention will be better understood and they can be said to involve the provision of an improved method for operating a locomotive which is supplemented by a booster and provided with some auxiliary exhaust steam consuming unit such as a feed water heater. I aim to increase the drat'tand therefore the steaming capacity of the locomotive at such times as the booster is in operation and to economically make use of the booster exhaust steam. More specifically stated I proposetocut off the supply of exhaust steam from the locomotive exhaust passages to the feed water heater whenever the booster motor is in operation and to utilize, at such times, the booster exhaust for feed water heating purposes.

The accompanying drawings show the invention as applied to a locomotive which is equipped with a locomotive feed water heater but it is to be understood, as above stated, that it is not necessarily limited to such, an arrangement. In these drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the forward end of a locomotive illustrating the application of my invention thereto; Fig. 2 is a half front elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical longitudinal section thru an improved type of valve mechanism utilized with my invention; and Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating the manner in'which I prefer to apply my invention to a booster supplemented locomotive.

In the drawings the locomotiveA is shown as being drafted by its exhaust steam which passes from the valve chamber 1 to the exhaust nozzle 2 in a manner well understood in this art-,the products of combustion entrained by the exhaust blast being passed out as usual thru'the stack 3. The locomotive is provided with the feed water heater 4 which 15 supplied with exhaust steam thru the conduit 5 and drained thru the conduit 6. As is. apparent the feed water heater 418 located at the front end of the locomotive near the top of the smoke box 7 with its longitudinal axis in a direction transverseof the locomotive and itis customary to provide a steam supply conduit 5 at either end of the feed water heater although but a single one is illustrated in the drawings. It will also, of course, be

understood that there are two valve chests 1 and two cylinders 8, a pair, asusual, being" located at either side of the locomotive.

At the end of each valve chamber 1 I provide an auxiliary housing9 which comm'uni cates with an exhaustfchamber within the valve casing. This 'liousing is provided with a fia nged'outlet 10 in its upper side. Secured over this outlet 10 and communicating therewith I provide a valve body 11 the constructionof which isillust-rated in detail in Fig. 3. It contains a double piston valve 12 normally: held in its left-hand'position as shown inFig. 3 by means ofa spring 13. The inlet 14 for the exhaust steam from the openinglO iscontrolled by the left-hand portion 15 of the piston valve and'the inlet 16, which is connected to the booster exhaust thru the conduit 17, is controlled-by the right-handportion 18'.

lVhen the valve 12 is in its normal or lefthand position as illustrated in Fig. 3 "communication is establishedbetween the inlet 14 from the locomotive exhaust and the outlet 19 which is connected to'the feed waterlieatei' thru the pipef5. But when the valve 12 is moved'to, its right-hand position, as will be described, communicationwith inlet 14 is cut oil and communication with inlet 16 is established. It will therefore be seen that when the booster exhaust steam inlet 16 is closed the exhaust steam inlet 14 from the locobacking up into the booster exhaust line at heater 4.

I prefer to arrange the valve 12 so that it will perform its functions automatically. To this end, as described, I provide the spring 13 which holds the valve 12 in its left-hand position whenever the booster is not in operation but just as soon as the booster goes into operation I have designed the apparatus so that the valve 12 will be moved to the right in order to cut off the supply of exhaust steam from the locomotive and to connect that from the lJOOStQl.

There are a number of ways in which this might be accomplished but a present I prefer the one herein illustrated and now to be described. A stem.22 extends outwardly from the portion 15 of the valve into the path of movement of the piston 23 suitably arranged in the cylindrical portion 24 of the valve body 11. Fluid pressure, preferably air, is introduced thru the cover plate 25 by means of the pipe 26. The air pipe 26 is connected to the fluid pressure controlling system of the booster motor which is now quite well understood in this art but which wi ll be briefly described in order to complete the showing of the present application. In this connection reference is to be had to Fig. 4 and it is desired to call attention to the fact that this figure shows only those portions of a booster controlling system which are necessary in the present embodiment of my invention.

The booster B comprises essentially a pair of cylinders 27 arranged to drive the pinion 28. The pinion 28 can be geared to the axle 29 thru the medium of the axle gear 30 and the idler gear 31 the latterof which is mounted upon the rocking member 32 for movement toward and away from the gear 30. The axle 29 may be any desired axle either on the locomotive or tender.

The rocking member 32 is actuated by means of the entraining motor 33to which operating fluid, preferably air, is delivered thru the pipe 34. When the gear 31 has been meshed with the gear 30 communication is established with the pipe 35 thru the duct 36 and this pipe 35 leads to the booster throttle operating cylinder 37 the piston 38 of which, thru suitable connections, opens the booster throttle 39 upwardly as it is forced downwardly by the fluid pressure. Steam for driving the booster can then flow in from pipe 40 to and thru the booster supply pipe 41. The

globe valve 42 is a hand-operated valve i11- tended to be used only in cases of emergency. As previously described the exhaust steam from the booster passes out thru the pipe 17.

It will therefore be seen that the booster B is normally inoperative but that it can be entrained and disentrained with the axle 29 whenever desired and after entrainment it becomes an operative driving factor in the propulsion of the locomotive. The pipe 26 is connected to the pipe 35 so that the fluid pressure reaches the operating piston 23 of the valve 12 only after entrainment of the booster. I wish it to be understood, however, that this arrangementmight be varied so that the air pressure could be taken at another point in the system the only requisite being that whenthe booster is in operation the piston 23 should be forced to the right and when it'is not in operation it should return to its lefthand position. It might also be arranged to operate the piston 23 by means of steam. pressure from the booster supply line 41.

The air for the booster supply system comes in from any suitable source of supply such as the usual reservoir (not shown) thru the pipe 43 which is under the control of the pilot valve structure 44. This pilot valve structure is designed to normally block the passage of air to the pipe 34 but when the booster is to be used as a driving factor the plunger 45 is depressed in any suitable mannerwhich action closes the valve 46 and opens the valve 47 .in order to establish communication between pipes 43 and 34.

I claim i 1. The combination of a locomotive drafted by its exhaust steam, a normally inoperative booster motor therefor, an exhaust steam consuming unit, a conduit for supplying said unit with steam from the locomotive exhaust, a conduit for supplying said unit with steam from the booster exhaust, and means for closing the conduit from the locomotive exhaust and opening the conduit from the booster exhaust when the boosteris in operation.

2. The combination of a locomotive drafted by its exhaust steam, a normally inoperative booster motor therefor, an exhaust steam consuming unit, a conduit for supplying said unit with steam from the locomotive exhaust, a conduit for supplying said unit with steam from the booster exhaust, and meansfor closing the conduit from the locomotive exhaust andopening the conduit from the booster exhaust when the booster is in operation, said last means also functioning to open the conduit from the locomotive exhaust and close the conduit'from the booster exhaust when the booster is not in operation.

3. The combination of a locomotive drafted by its exhaust steam, a normally inoperai'zive booster motor therefor, an exhaust steam consuming unit, connections for supplying said unit with steam from either the locomotive exhaust or the booster exhaust, and valve mechanism normally completing the connection to the locomotive exhaust and closing that to the booster exhaust but adapted to complete the connection from the booster exhaust and close that to the locomotive exhaust when the booster is in operation.

4-. The combination of a locomotive drafted by its exhaust steam, a normally inoperative booster motor therefor, an exhaust steam consuming unit, means for supplying said unit with steam from the locomotive exhaust, means for supplying said unit with steam from the booster exhaust, and means for shutting off the supply of steam from the locomotive exhaust when the booster is in operation.

5. The combination of a locomotive drafted by its exhaust steam, a normally inoperative booster motor therefor, means for causing operation of the booster, an exhaust steam consuming unit, connections for supplying said unit with steam from the locomotive exhaust, connections for supplying said unit with steam from the booster exhaust, and

means actuated by the means for causing operation of the booster for shutting off the supply of steam from the locomotive exhaust.

6. The combination of a locomotive drafted by its exhaust steam, a normally inoperative booster motor therefor, a fluid pressure controlling system for causing operation of the booster, an exhaust steam consuming unit, means for supplying said unit with steam from the locomotive exhaust, means for supplying said unit with steam from the booster exhaust, a valve normally establishing communication through the means for supplying the locomotive exhaust steam and shutting off communication through the means for supplying booster exhaust steam, said valve, however, being movable to close the locomotive supply and open the booster supply, and motor means operated by pressure from said controlling system for moving said valve as described.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto hereunto signed my name.

HARRY S. VINCENT. 

